Chapter 24 patrol defense

The Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau is located outside the county seat of Shanghai. Gaochang Temple, which is on the verge of the Huangpu River, was originally a wasteland. Since Zeng Guofan asked to set up the manufacturing bureau, a gravel road was built to lead east to the south gate of the county.However, Zuo Zongtang still disembarked in front of the Tianhou Palace, and went directly to the special wharf of the Manufacturing Bureau along the Huangpu River. Then introduce the subordinates and visit them one by one.Next, ask: Which one to look at first? "Let's look at the shipyard first!" Zuo Zongtang said, "I resigned from Beijing last year, and my superiors specifically explained that foreign defense is important, so I should pay special attention to it. Although the shipyard of the Manufacturing Bureau is not as large as Fujian, it is the second largest in China. Shipyards can make the best use of people, land, and materials, which is also beneficial to foreign defense."

This opening remark had some meaning of teaching, Li Mianlin was certainly not very comfortable listening to it, and he couldn't help feeling embarrassed, seeing this scene, Hu Xueyan spoke good words for Li Mianlin, and finally rounded up the situation. The dock was in a mess, and there was no sign of it, so Zuo Zongtang had no choice but to ask: "Peng Gongbao has been patrolling the Yangtze River and Haikou all year round. He has seen the situation of Jiang Defense and Ocean Defense. He wrote to me, saying that there are not enough troops to dispatch. I thought about building at least No. 10, but in my opinion, No. 10 is not enough. It would be better to imitate five more new-style clippers. Do you think you can build them here?"

"Small steamers can be built, but new fast boats are limited to machines and beyond their capabilities." "Well, how much does it cost to build a small steamer?" "It depends on estimation." The words froze again, but fortunately Zuo Zongtang didn't care, he just asked: "How many days will it take to estimate?" "If you want an accurate valuation, you have to go to the Fujian Shipping Bureau. They have all the pictures and descriptions there, and the market prices of the materials are relatively accurate. If you decide to make it, the Bureau will send people to Fujian immediately. It will take about a month to get the detailed account. gone."

"Okay! Please do it right away." Next to the dock is the gun factory. Zuo Zongtang is very interested in this place, because Xizheng's strength lies in the excellent equipment, especially foreign guns. He is already very good at it, but he has seen and used it a lot. It is the first time I have seen it, so from the steelmaking plant, every department is very careful. Finally, when we arrived at the inspection office, there was a shooting range attached, and the sound of ping-pong ping-pong was very lively.As soon as Zuo Zongtang stepped in, an old man sitting on the high stool jumped down and hid aside, Li Mianlin shouted: "Yao Siwu, meet Mr. Zuo!"

This Yao Siwu's face was as red as fire, his hair was as white as silver, his eyes were one big and one small, the big right eye was piercing, and his arms were also thick and thin, incongruous.Zuo Zongtang had a lot of experience in his life and had seen many strangers. Seeing that Yao Siwu looked weird, he couldn't help but pay more attention. After Yao Siwu kowtowed his head and stood up, Li Mianlin looked at Zuo Zongtang and said: "This Yao Siwu is a treasure in the manufacturing bureau. No matter what kind of gun, if it goes out in his hands, it must be 'accurate'."

"Oh," Zuo Zongtang was most interested in ordnance, he looked up and asked, "Is this where your gun inspection is?" "Yes." Li Mianlin replied instead. "How to test the law?" "Speaking of it, I'm afraid adults won't believe it. He just glanced at it and fired a shot." "This is amazing." Zuo Zongtang said happily, "I want to see and see." "Yes." Li Mianlin turned to Yao Siwu and said, "You rehearse and rehearse for adults." Yao Siwu seemed very dull, he wouldn't even say "yes", he just nodded and pushed the high stool away, meaning to test the gun while standing.

"No, no!" Zuo Zongtang hastily stopped, "You do as usual. You are sitting normally, and you are still sitting now." Yao Siwu didn't dare to agree, so he still asked Li Mianlin to say: "You follow my lord's orders." Yao Siwu then moved the high stool back to its original place, stepped on the steps attached to the stool, and sat on it.In front of him was a long and narrow alley made of walls, with six concentric targets at the end, and the center was riddled with bullet holes. Yao Siwu shouted loudly, "Change the target!" Someone was taking care of the gun target, and a new target was immediately replaced.Zuo Zongtang saw that there were two long wooden boxes on his left, and two large baskets on his right, with guns piled up in disorder.In the long wooden box is a newly repaired gun, and someone is looking after it.

"Come!" Hearing Yao Siwu's sound, the man took a gun and threw it up. Yao Siwu caught it with his left hand, handed it to his right hand, squinted his eyes and heard a "bang", and then heard it again. There was a sound of "Peng", and the gun had been thrown into the basket in front of him. Zuo Zongtang didn't see clearly at all how he was pulling the trigger with one hand, but he could see clearly that there was a small hole in the center of the red heart on the new target. At this time, it was "bang bang pang peng" for a long time. Some guns were thrown in the outer baskets, and some guns were thrown in the inner baskets, but there were fewer outside and more inside.

"That's right," Li Mianlin explained to Zuo Zongtang, "Those that were thrown outside were not repaired, and those that were thrown inside were repaired when they were taken back." Zuo Zongtang didn't quite believe it, "You can hear it just by looking at it and firing a gun?" He said, "It seems a bit unbelievable." "Yes! It's kind of weird. But it's true." "I don't understand." Zuo Zongtang took advantage of the gap and shouted, "Siwu Yao! Siwu Yao!" Yao Siwu remained motionless, as if he hadn't heard anything. Li Mianlin hurriedly explained: "He is hard of hearing, and his ear drums are damaged by the sound of gunshots. Usually when he speaks, he only looks at people's mouths." Then, he stepped forward and patted He patted Yao Siwu on the back and told him to come down.

"Yao Siwu," Zuo Zongtang asked, "How old are you this year?" "Sixty-six." "How long have you been playing with guns?" Yao Siwu flexed his fingers and calculated: "Forty-eight years." Zuo Zongtang also made some calculations in his mind and said, "So, you have been doing this business since Dao Guangnian?" "yes." "Who did you learn from?" "First the Germans, then the British." "Oh!" Zuo Zongtang asked, "Do you think German guns are better or British guns?" "Germany."

Hearing this, Zuo Zongtang turned around to look. Hu Xueyan knew that he was looking for him, so he squeezed forward from a large group of officials. "Xueyan," Zuo Zongtang asked, "Is Falk here?" "No." Hu Xueyan asked, "What orders does your lord have? I'll tell him right away." "I'm looking for a 'Windsted' gun—" "Uh," Hu Xueyan replied, "I've already assigned it to recruits, and it's in use." "Okay, okay! Get one." This gun was handed over to Yao Siwu, and asked him if he had seen it?The answer is no.But he only looked at it for a while, then turned a screw, and then took it apart one by one. In just a few minutes, a new gun became a pile of parts. This showed real skills, Zuo Zongtang couldn't refuse him, and immediately asked: "Is this gun good?" Yao Siwu didn't answer, but just looked at Li Mianlin.Zuo Zongtang didn't know what was going on, but Hu Xueyan could see it. As soon as Yao Siwu agreed, Zuo Zongtang might immediately confess and buy that one.In that case, how can the procurement committee's money source be cut off. Therefore, Hu Xueyan said: "I'm afraid it may not be good." Unexpectedly, Li Mianlin was just the opposite, saying again and again: "Good, good, very good." On the surface, they are polite to each other, but in fact it is equivalent to close combat, and they are also suspicious of each other.Originally, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau was under the control of Li Hongzhang. No matter whether it was self-made or outsourced, it was not Hu Xueyan's turn to intervene. Therefore, when he said "I'm afraid it may not be good", he was unwilling to "compete business" with the Manufacturing Bureau. Conversely, if he wants to "grab business", he can get it at his fingertips.This made Li Mianlin deeply feel that he must be careful in front of a strong enemy. The business of buying the "Winnerstead" rifle naturally went to Hu Xueyan, but it was Fokker who made a big profit. It turned out that the agency right of this kind of gun in China belonged to Fokker & Co., and the first batch bought 500 guns, and sold them everywhere, but only sold more than 100. At first, Zuo Zongtang didn't think of it, because he knew that the Western Expeditionary Army There were so many rifles in the middle, Zuo Zongtang even sent a batch to King Chun for use by the Shenji Battalion.When I heard that Hu Xueyan was going to Shanghai, I thought that Zuo Zongtang's "team" might use this relatively sophisticated new gun, and sent twenty guns as samples. But there are hundreds of branches, half of the stock is still there, and I don't know where to sell them. Unexpectedly, the news transmitted by Hu Xueyan said that he would buy 2,500 sticks and prepare to distribute them to the defense battalions in the south of the Yangtze River.Falk was overjoyed, but also worried, because the stock that could be supplied was not even a fraction. "Mr. Hu," Fogg said to Hu Xueyan through Gu Yingchun's translator, "I will hand over the stock first, and the rest will be handed over within three months. I will go back to China and do this specifically. .” Hu Xueyan discussed with Gu Yingchun, he also saw that Li Mianlin was deeply wary of him, and thought it was not appropriate to make enemies from the beginning, lest there would be more and more obstacles in the future.Zuo Zongtang personally explained the deal, and he had to do it. He was worried that Li Mianlin would "eat it", but it was rare that the supply of Fokker was insufficient, so he just canceled the deal to avoid offending Li Mianlin. He told Gu Yingchun what he meant, and said: "I think it's better to push it away. You tell him that you need to use it immediately, and you want it in stock. If you don't have it in stock, you won't be able to talk about it." "He won't believe this." Gu Yingchun said, "It's not like he doesn't know the weight of what my uncle says in front of Mr. Zuo. Whenever he buys arms, he always sends samples first, and then places an order when he likes it. Now Didn't it make things difficult for him to say that everything must be in stock?" "That's true." Hu Xueyan hesitated for a while and said, "In this case, you tell him to go see Mr. Zuo by himself. And we want to avoid suspicion. You tell him to go to the Manufacturing Bureau to see Li Guan, and ask Li Guan to take him there. See Mr. Zuo. Whether the business is successful or not depends on his own luck." "This method! Will it work?" Gu Yingchun couldn't help doubting, "We can't afford to hand over our own way to others." "No! Now they are afraid of us, and they are very defensive. There is no need to become a deadly enemy for such a trivial matter. It is better to be more generous now, and it will be smoother when doing things in the future." Gu Yingchun thought to himself, this is a way to win Gu Yu, and it might not be unusable.The commission for 2,500 guns, although at least 5,000 commissions may seem like a large amount to others, but in Hu Xueyan's eyes, it is a trivial matter. Since he wants to be "generous", he will do as he wants. But Fogg had no way of knowing Hu Xueyan's concerns and plans, so when he heard Gu Yingchun's words, he was very confused. After years of cooperation, why did he have such a refusal attitude?Could it be that Hu Xueyan no longer has the strength to speak in front of Zuo Zongtang, or is there another reason? Now ask Gu Yingchun straightforwardly.Of course, Gu Yingchun couldn't tell him the truth, he only said that Hu Xueyan respected Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau.This statement was dubious to Falk. He had been in China for many years, and he was quite familiar with the situation in the officialdom. Whoever had the means had always been able to fight for power. Falk is very experienced in doing things, so he went to inquire about Hu Xueyan's "market situation" with Zuo Zongtang, and the answer he got was that he would never fall out of favor.As a result, he couldn't help but suspect that someone else was taking advantage of the arms business and wanted to replace him. Hu Xueyan's attitude made him retreat in spite of the difficulties. Ask Gu Yingchun, but Gu Yingchun categorically denies it.This time, Falk was relieved. There are many tricks in China's official circles that are not as good as outsiders, so there is no need to ask more.Anyway, I still adhere to the purpose of equal benefit, and tighten Hu Xueyan, and maintain a cooperative relationship for many years, which is always good. So Fogg brought an interpreter to the Manufacturing Bureau to ask Li Mianlin.Officials at that time treated foreigners differently, not to mention that Fogg was one of the leaders of Shanghai's maritime merchants, so as soon as the famous assassin reported in, Li Mianlin, who was meeting guests in the flower hall, left others to meet Fogg in the signing room. When asked about his purpose, Fogg said through an interpreter: "Master Zuo wants to buy 2,500 Wengers rifles, but I only have more than 300 in stock, and the rest will be delivered within three months. I'm here to see Li Guan, please take me to see Mr. Zuo for an interview." Hearing this, Li Mianlin couldn't help being surprised. Ordering Western arms has always been futures. There is nothing going on inside and outside at present, and it's not like a battle with a strong enemy. Sophisticated weapons are urgently needed to be able to restrain them. Thinking about it carefully, it was obvious that Hu Xueyan was unwilling to deal with this matter.But why not?The only reason is that Zuo Zongtang is no longer the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition, but the governor of Liangjiang and the minister of Nanyang. Among the two titles, one is "Jiang" and the other is "South", which clearly shows that this case should be made by Jiangnan Bureau hosted. Li Mianlin admires Hu Xueyan's ability to keep the boundaries. Hu Xueyan's wrist is very powerful, but he is still "on the road".Immediately readily agreed: "Yes, yes! Master Zuo will leave for Jiangning tomorrow. I was going to see him, so let's go together." So they agreed to meet at Xingyuan of Tianhou Palace at three o'clock in the afternoon that day.At that time, Qi Li Mianlin will hand in the audience first, and then find a gap in the conversation, saying that Fogg is outside, waiting for an interview, and reporting something. Zuo Zongtang has already received Hu Xueyan's report, and thinks Hu Xueyan said that the case is undertaken by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and all the signing, payment and other procedures are relatively convenient.So after hearing Li Mianlin's words, he immediately received Fogg. He knew Fokker very well, and he also admired Fokker's orderliness, warm words, and quite fake words. When it came to buying guns, he also readily agreed. Solve.In terms of price, Falk and Li Mianlin will discuss in detail. "These two thousand and five hundred guns are for the Green Camp." Zuo Zongtang told Li Mianlin, "When you receive the guns, give them to Li Chaobin right away." Li Chaobin's official title is Jiangnan Admiral, the highest officer of the Green Camp. "yes." "I heard that you are going back to China." Zuo Zongtang turned his face and asked Fogg, "When will you leave and when will you come back?" "Leave in ten days and come back in two months." "I'm going to rectify the navy now. The sharp weapon of the navy is torpedoes, isn't it?" "yes." "I want to buy a batch of torpedoes, do you have any?" "Yes, yes." Fogg replied, "Your Majesty Zuo knows that every country in the East, West, and West has a new sharp weapon, and it will definitely send samples and instructions to my foreign firm. Especially this time, I will return to Germany. I personally inquired about the latest model and shipped it." "Can you invite the technician together?" "Of course. When purchasing new weapons that China did not have before, a technician must be sent to teach them how to perform. This is an inevitable rule, and there is no mistake." "Oh, you didn't get what I meant. I mean a mechanic who can make torpedoes." "That is also possible." Fogg replied, "But first we need to check with the Manufacturing Bureau to see if there is a machine that can make torpedoes." "You discuss it with Li Guan." Zuo Zongtang asked again, "There is also a kind of 'touching thunder', what's the use?" "Yes—" Fokker asked the translator to clarify the meaning of the word "touching thunder", before he replied, "That is called a mine, and it is specially used to guard against the enemy's warships. For example, a port does not want the enemy's warships to break in. You can lay mines on the sea surface of the port, and the ship will explode as soon as it touches it." "Where's your own ship?" "My own ship will also explode." Fokker said, "The mines are very powerful. The trouble is that you don't have eyes, so if you encounter a confrontation with a foreign country, you plan to cut off the waterway traffic, and you don't use mines." "What happened afterwards?" "Clean up afterwards. There is a special kind of ship called a minesweeper." "According to this, this matter involves a lot, let's put it aside for now, you can just purchase the latest torpedoes for China. You can discuss the details with Li Guan." "yes!" Seeing that there was nothing to say, Falk got up and left under the gesture of the translator.Although Li Mianlin was retained, he couldn't allow him to say a word from the beginning to the end, and he was extremely unhappy. As for Zuo Zongtang keeping Li Mianlin, he wanted to discuss a half-public and half-private matter.However, the private matter is not his personal, it is for Zeng Guofan's young son-in-law Nie Gui. It turned out that Mrs. Ouyang of Zeng Guofan had three sons and six daughters, the eldest son and five daughters, who died when they were young, and there are two sons and five daughters. What he valued, later he was granted the title of Marquis, and he was sent to the West as an imperial envoy. Both Guo Songtao and Guo Songtao were great talents who really understood Western affairs. The second son, Ji Hongzhong, has been unfavorable in the examinations since his examination. Zeng Guofan also knew that "there is no paper in the field" and that the examinations are all about luck, but the thought of fame and fame is in his chest, and his expectations are too high. He always says that his second son does not work hard.Unfortunately, his luck was really bad. Until Zeng Guofan died, he was always a Juren, and he has never been able to become a Jinshi. Compared with his elder brother, the situation is very different, so that he died in Beijing, and Zuo Zongtang took care of him behind him. Compared with Zeng Jihong, the situation of his sisters is even worse than him. Some mothers-in-law are too fierce, and some husbands are worthless.Zeng Guofan was very strict with his family. He said that he had seen many daughters from famous families who were greedy for the wealth and honor of their mother's family. But because Zeng Guofan didn't allow them to return to Ning, they had to suffer at her husband's house, and all of them shed tears all day long.Among them, the fourth lady was well married, but she was young and widowed, so Zeng Guofan often said that his "luck was not good". Miss Six is ​​the youngest daughter, known in Hunan as "Miss Man", named Zeng Jifen, she was married after Zeng Guofan's death.Originally, her uncle "Jiu Shuai" was the matchmaker, promised to marry Nie's family in Hengshan, and was scheduled to leave the cabinet in the eleventh year of Tongzhi. Unexpectedly, at the beginning of February of this year, Zeng Guofan died of a stroke while serving as Governor of Liangjiang. Zeng Jifen's son-in-law, Nie Jiji, whose name is Yuntai, belongs to a Hengshan family, and his ancestors were famous for doing good deeds.But Nie Jiji didn't even pass the exam, so he could only do a little job. He had a brother-in-law who served as the "General Office of the Defense Preparation Bureau" for the former Governor of Liangjiang, Liu Kun. Nie Jiji followed him to Jiangning alone. , working as an errand in the preparation and defense bureau, only eight taels of silver for traveling expenses, but he has to take care of his family.It turned out that when Nie Gui came to Jiangning, he realized that Zeng Guofan was really a protégé and acquaintances all over the world. Taking out his wife with the "title" of "Zeng Wenzheng's Miss Man" can really bring out some benefits in the crony, this is his marriage plan. Sure enough, according to her husband's instructions, Zeng Jifen went to visit the wife of Li Hanzhang, governor of Huguang, when she passed by Wuchang by boat from Hunan, and to talk about her husband's situation. Nie Jiji was immediately appointed as a member of the Hunan Transportation Bureau in Jiangning , with a monthly allowance of fifty taels, life is very comfortable. When Zuo Zongtang took Liu Kunyi's hand, he took Zeng Jifen to the governor's office not long after he arrived in Jiangning to talk about the old days.Zeng Guofan was born in Xinwei, the sixteenth year of Jiaqing, and Zuo Zongtang was born in Renshen, one year younger, so he regarded himself as an uncle.Zuo Zongtang lost peace with Zeng Guofan after Zeng Guoquan conquered Jiangning, and there was no communication for three or four years. However, when Zuo Zongtang was ordered to go west, Zeng Guofan ordered the Hunan Army Liu Songshan to help him, which was very effective, and Zuo Zongtang was greatly moved. Moreover, the key to his fame and fame in his life is that Zeng Guofan knew his talent and sent him to take charge of it alone, recover Zhejiang, and be knighted at the same time as the Zeng brothers.He is a prime minister and a marquis, an extremely human minister, and he can't help but be grateful to Zeng Guofan when he drinks water. So on the surface, he is as stubborn as before, and he still criticizes Zeng Guofan everywhere, but his private attitude has changed greatly.After Zeng Guofan's death, he sent an elegiac couplet, saying that "to be loyal to the country, to know others, to be ashamed to be inferior to Yuanfu", this is tantamount to admitting defeat, which is very rare given Zuo Zongtang's temperament. As for taking care of Zeng Guofan's descendants, it is to prove the next sentence in his elegiac couplet: "One heart is like gold, one heart is like gold, and one's mistakes are like stone, and you will never lose your life."Especially the elderly, they often have a tendency to regard their friends' daughters as the jewels in their palms. They love their houses and crows, and they treat Nie Jiji differently. They send him an errand from the camp office, and they have lunch at noon every day. They must find Nie Jiji. To tell the truth about his willingness to pay attention to Western learning, I quite praised him and wanted to train him. This time when Zuo Zongtang was out of the province for a military parade, Nie Guiji was his entourage, and Li Mianlin was an acquaintance with him, Zuo Zongtang deliberately asked, "Mianlin, are you familiar with Nie Liangtai?" Li Mianlin was Xingrui in various states, and he had run a food platform for Zeng Guofan in his early years, and he immediately replied: "He is Zeng Wenzheng's man's son-in-law, of course I know him very well." "That would be the best. I see you are busy too, and I want to send him to be your assistant." "Your Excellency misses the old man and wants to adjust Nie Zhongfang. Of course, we must respect this sincerity. I think that if you give him a salary of fifty taels of silver every month, it is better to still work with your lord." Zuo Zongtang was stunned when he heard that, "Why, Mian Lin," he asked, "You don't welcome Nie Zhongfang?" "Don't dare to bully your lord. Nie Zhongfang is with your lord. He personally taught and supervised him. He didn't dare to deviate. When he came to me, he might revert to his old ways. He is Zeng Wenzheng's man's son-in-law. I don't want to talk about him. It delays business. Everyone is not good. " At this point, Zuo Zongtang, who was originally a little angry, asked calmly: "You said he's 'returning to his old ways'. Excuse me, what is the old way?" "Nie Zhongfang is a dandy. He is three years younger than Miss Man. He got married in the first year of Guangxu. In the fourth year of Guangxu, he was only twenty-four years old. He was already married to his concubine." "I know about this, his one has already been sent away." Zuo Zongtang asked, "What else?" "Also, when Zeng Jiegang was sent as an envoy to Britain and France that year, the second lady's uncle Chen Songsheng and Nie Zhongfang both wanted to be attendants, but as a result, Jie just brought Chen Songsheng, but not Nie Zhongfang. When Jie just passed by Shanghai, I asked him why he treats one more than another because he is also a sister-in-law. Jie just said, I was tired of taking him there. He also said, you will know it after reading my diary.” Li Mianlin said again, “They are close relatives, and even if they are like this, my lord Think, how dare I use him?" "Oh," Zuo Zongtang asked, "Have you read Jie Gang's diary yet?" "Look." "What does it say in the diary?" "I recorded a copy and sent it back for adults to read." "Okay! Please send it to me to have a look." Li Mianlin agreed, and sent a copy of Zeng Jiegang's diary to Xingyuan of Tianhou Palace as soon as he returned.Zuo Zongtang had nothing to do under the lamp, so he read it carefully. Among them, there were two criticisms against Nie Jiji. Jimei was tortured and tortured, and she was extremely depressed." This is housework, and it is difficult for an honest official to decide. Another record was recorded on September 15th of that year, explaining why he did not use Nie Zhongfang: "After lunch, write a letter to reply to my sister-in-law Nie Zhongfang, to prevent her from going abroad. As my sister-in-law, Qi Songsheng And obstructing Zhongfang will definitely attract resentment in the future, but traveling thousands of miles is not my private business, so I can't show favors to my relatives, and I can't just give in to it. Song Sheng's knowledge of virtue is rare among friends, and he must be an ambassador when traveling together Beneficial. Zhong Fang is young and has too many playful habits. Apart from entertaining, he has no strengths. He is also unstable and moody. How can he carry himself tired, so he resolutely resigned." Zuo Zongtang thought to himself, this is not an incurable disease.If Nie Guiji was as Zeng Jize said at the time, but now it seems that there is no such problem, it just shows that this person has tried his best to correct his mistakes and is willing to make progress in the past three or four years.Li Mianlin had many problems in the manufacturing bureau, and he was afraid of falling into Nie Guiji's eyes, so he used Zeng Jiegang as a shield and ignored him. Although the idea was decided, but because he had to leave for Jiangning the next day, he could not have an interview with Li Mianlin, so he personally wrote a letter saying: "Zeng Wenzheng laughed at himself that his luck was not good, and few of his sons-in-law agreed. Hong also didn't like him very much, and the person he allowed was only one person, and he was worried that he was too smart, so he must see it. Last year my younger brother lived in Beijing, and seeing Ji Hong’s distress and embarrassment, he didn’t realize that he was discriminated against in order to obtain medicine bait, funeral coffin and return to the hometown. Jie just wrote a letter of thanks in London , but Jiquanquan, it is not dare to have the idea of ​​love and hate between the flesh and blood, it is also conceivable. This is for Zhongfang, why is it not the case. The diary says that it is just a momentary misconduct, and it cannot be judged according to it. " As I write this, I feel a little preposterous, and in his position, he is bullying others, so I thought about it for a while, and came up with a reasonable reason. "It is said that 'Thinking of his people still loves his tree, and a gentleman uses his affection, but he is generous'. In this way, it is not difficult for you to be Zhongfang. Advance if you can, withdraw if you can't, if you are lucky, you will tolerate it if you have no faults, if you have faults, you will criticize them, so that you have a heart that inspires you, so that you can inspire, inspire, and fear. Fang has achieved something, so he will not be discarded as waste material, and if you treat Zhongfang with him, you will be able to correct Zeng Wen." Zuo Zongtang felt that this passage was upright and reasonable, but it was not meaningful enough, so he added another paragraph: "My younger brother and Wen Zhenglun had the earliest friendship, and we all know each other sincerely; It is also seen in the world. However, after Wenzheng's death, treating Wenzheng's son Ruodi, his relatives and friends, is no different from Wenzheng's survival. Do you think so?" After sending Zuo Zongtang away, Li Mianlin received Zuo Zongtang's letter and Zeng Jize's diary as soon as he returned to the manufacturing bureau.The previous article of the letter not only insisted on the original intention, but also vaguely blamed him for refusing to take care of Nie Guiji, and instead alienated the feelings of his uncle Lang's close relatives. I am sorry for the virtues cultivated by Zeng Guofan during his lifetime.Li Mianlin was naturally very unhappy. There is no way!He was thinking in his heart, he was not afraid of officials, he was only afraid of management, Zuo Zongtang wanted to send Nie Guiji to handle it, it was his authority, and it was still polite to write a letter to explain.Then I thought, Zuo Zongtang admired Nie Jiji because he was willing to tell the truth, and he was willing to pay attention to "Western learning". There are many shady inside stories about the Bureau that cannot be concealed.Zuo Zongtang sent this person to act as a meeting manager, maybe it was specially to catch his faults. Thinking about it like this, I can't help but have a lot of thoughts, but I still have to work hard to deal with it. Immediately, I found all the copywriting and general affairs of my cronies, and announced that Nie Guiji will be in charge in the future, and I will take care of the copywriting. Words should be polite and praiseful.Then explain two general affairs: first, find a spacious mansion for the office, and furnish it beautifully; second, send a special person to Jiangning to pick up the "Nie Huiban" couple to take up the post with three months' salary. This commoner is called Wang Boyan, and he is Li Mianlin's confidant. He is called a commoner, and he doesn't just care about the trivial matters of the bureau. He can not only intervene in projects and purchase materials, but he is also Li Mianlin's think tank, and he can make suggestions at any time. Of course, he is also Li Mianlin's eyes and ears. , the outside world has always paid close attention to the criticism of the Manufacturing Bureau. When Li Mianlin completed the matter and came back to his command, Wang Boyan mentioned Falk, "The contract with Falk," he asked, "does the general manager plan to discuss it with him himself, or wait for Nie Huiban to negotiate?" ?” "what do you say?" "It depends on the intention of the General Office." Wang Boyan said, "Each has its own advantages. When Nie Huiban comes to talk, the advantage is that Mr. Zuo has full face, and Nie Huiban is also very happy. The good thing is that there is a handle in the hands of the general office, and I won't be afraid that he will not give in in the future." "Hmm, um!" Li Mianlin asked, "What are the disadvantages?" "The disadvantage is that he doesn't want benefits. It's an exception in business affairs. From now on, all such contracts will be negotiated by him, and the power of the general manager will fall to the side." Li Mianlin thought for a while and replied: "He just came here, and he never dared to take advantage of it. He would not have something in our hands, but set a bad example." "That's right. The general office's approach is also very clever. Try to be polite to him and perfunctory him to make him comfortable, but don't give him real power and tell him to take care of business." "That's right! I'll leave it to you to make him comfortable. It's okay to spend a few taels of silver at most." "Yes!" Wang Boyan replied, "Fokk came to ask yesterday when the contract will be negotiated. I said Master Zuo is here for the past two days, and the general office has no time. We will talk about it after Master Zuo leaves. Now, I will inform him." , tell him to come and talk right away." "Okay! You talk to him." Falk has prepared it long ago. The category, price, transaction period, and contract draft. The price is determined according to the quantity. The more you buy, the cheaper it is, but the commission is calculated in full proportion. The commission for ammunition varies from high to low, but at least a 28% discount is required. However, the commission offered by Fokker is only a discount. Wang Boyan smiled to the translator: "Mr. Fokker has been in China for many years, how do you speak in layman's terms?" "Yes, it's a commission discount, right?" "It's not that the commission discount is wrong." Wang Boyan changed his words again, "It's because we are treated as laymen." The translator chatted with Fogg for a while, then turned to Wang Boyan and said, "What Falk means is that because this business was given to Mr. Zuo, the price is very low, so he opened it according to the cost, which is equivalent to being a freelancer. Please forgive me, my lord." "Heavy words, serious words!" Wang Boyan said, "We want to ask him to forgive me. How can I explain this amount to my superiors? Could it be that he made a deal with Mr. Hu Da with this discount?" "Yes," Fogg actually replied through an interpreter, but he also explained, "In the past, if you talked to Mr. Hu himself, you could talk about anything. If you talked to Mr. Zuo himself, Mr. Hu didn't even ask for a kickback. of." "Hey, hey!" Wang Boyan fussed, "According to this, he is really taking care of us?" "That's not the case." The interpreter replied, "As far as we know, the amount of rebate depends on the situation. Fortunately, there will be business in the future, and there will always be a time to make up for it." "It's the first time for me, always let me have a face. You tell him, I will repay him next time." The translator talked with Falk for a long time, and finally replied to Wang Boyan helplessly, "Master Wang," he said, "Fogg means that any rebate is acceptable, but the price has to be increased." "How much will it increase?" "It depends on Master Wang, as much as you want." "Oh, did he mean 'wear a hat'?" "yes." "Then does he admit to wearing a hat?" "Of course I admit it. But—" The interpreter hesitated and did not continue. Of course Wang Boyan wanted to ask, "But what?" He said, "It's the first time for everyone to make a deal, so we must treat each other with sincerity." "Then, to be honest, the price list has already been published." "Which one is it for?" "Mr. Hu Da." The translator hurriedly added, "It's not about these two days." When Wang Boyan heard this, he was furious, his face turned blue and red, and finally he said: "It turned out to be a trap!" At the moment, Wang Boyan broke up in a bad mood, and Wang Boyan was aggrieved. After inquiring again, there was something annoying. It turned out that Fokker was determined to maintain a good relationship with Hu Xueyan, so he reserved a discount for him in the commission for the arms. Although Hu Xueyan expressed that he was unwilling to get something for nothing, Falk still followed the original plan.20% rebate for the purchase of arms is the minimum market price, and half of it should be distributed to other people for nothing. Wang Boyan felt that it was really difficult for the general office to explain this matter. Li Mianlin already felt cheated. In his judgment, Hu Xueyan brought Fokker to Zuo Zongtang as a member of the Western Expedition Transshipment Bureau to intervene in the procurement of arms in the south of the Yangtze River. Ben didn't even look good on Zuo Zongtang, so he asked Fogg to introduce him.In fact, they had already talked about it in secret, and they just used him as a way to pass.Therefore, after hearing Wang Boyan's report, he thought the situation was serious, and went to Shanghai Dao Shao Youlian to discuss it. "Li Hefei's trip to Ding You was really a coincidence. Beiyang was intended to be replaced by Zhang Zhenxuan. Here, Zuo Xiangyin is aggressively pushing Nie Zhongfang undercover inside and Hu Xueyan outside. The manufacturing bureau is the foundation of Beiyang, and it seems that it will not be able to keep it. " Li Mianlin said worriedly, "Brother Xiaocun, you have always been resourceful, and you must help me out of the fact that everyone is Zeng Wenzheng's descendant." "Heavy words, serious words." Shao Youlian, nicknamed "Xiaocun", said, "We are closely related to each other, and I have no reason to sit idly by. Hu Xueyan's weight in front of Zuo Xiangyin is not as good as before. You first grit your teeth and hold on, and wait for me. Find a chance and hit him with a sap so that he can't get up." "Centured insect, dead but not stiff—" "Even if you're not stiff, you can't do anything." Shao Youlian interrupted him, "Brother Mian Lin, the most important thing right now is to deal with Nie Zhongfang well." "I see." "As for Falk's contract, you'd better let Hu Xueyan book it with him." "Oh, what's the point of this?" "Naturally, there are particulars. This fund will have to be spent in the income of Jianghai Customs in the future. If I can't manage it here, won't you be forced by others?" Li Mianlin pondered for a while, and suddenly realized that the tax revenue of Jianghai Customs belongs to Shao Youlian. In the future, he can delay the payment of Fogg's money. If Hu Xueyan signed the contract with Falk, Fogg can only go to Hu Xueyan to negotiate. Therefore, Shao Youlian's making things difficult for Fogg was actually making things difficult for Hu Xueyan. "Okay, okay!" After figuring it out, Li Mianlin agreed, "I'll do it when I get back." Li Mianlin's solution is to order Wang Boyan to report to Zuo Zongtang on official business, saying that Fokker's asking price is too high and the contract cannot be negotiated.棠径饬胡雪岩与福克签订合约，同时，福克原拟致送回扣一成，江南制造局决不敢领这笔回扣，请在价款中扣除，庶符涓滴归公之议。 这一份“禀帖”说得冠冕堂皇，到得两江总督衙门，左宗棠认为言之有理，便将原禀录了一个副本，一并寄交胡雪岩办理。这样由上海而江宁，由江宁而杭州，再由杭州而上海一个大圈子兜下来，函电往来，很快地两个月过去，事情尚无结果，局势却有了重大变化。